Due to consumer health issues and ethanol intolerance problems there is an increasing demand for alcoholic beverages with reduced alcohol content which at the same time possess the characteristic sensory attributes as the conventional “high-alcohol” products. Also, global warming has led to higher sugar content in fruits and berries worldwide which, when used as the starting solution for alcoholic fermentation, results in higher alcohol content in the resulting product. Such high alcohol content may negatively impact the sensory characteristics of the product.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods allowing for control of the alcohol content of alcoholic beverages and at the same time maintaining the sensory characteristics of the particular product.
Current methods for ethanol reduction like reverse osmosis, spinning cone or dilution are not satisfactory. These methods may have adverse effects on the sensorial quality of the beverage. Furthermore, the price of up to 1 USD/gallon for reverse osmosis of alcoholic beverages is a major limitation for a wider application of this approach.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,191 (Novo Industri, Denmark—published 1987) describes a method for reducing alcohol content in wine that involves use of the enzyme glucose oxidase. With respect to the described method column 2, lines 25-29 read:                “The method of this invention comprises treating unfermented grape juice with glucose oxidase in the presence of oxygen, thereby converting glucose in the grape juice into gluconic acid and thereafter fermenting the so-treated grape juice.”        
The herein main relevant technical elements of this prior art method are schematically illustrated in FIG. 1.
International PCT application with application number PCT/EP2008/068161 was filed 22 Dec. 2008. Applicant is Chr. Hansen A/S and the application was not published at the filing date of this present application.
PCT/EP2008/068161 describes a method for reduction of alcohol in wine manufactured from grape juice involving the use of enzymes as described herein. Use of this principle for the reduction of alcohol in other alcoholic beverages is not described in PCT/EP2008/068161.